ALL SCI-FI

[scotpens]

I was just reading an online review of Silver Nitrate, a new paranormal thriller by Mexican author Silvia Moreno-Garcia. The title supposedly refers to the chemically unstable and highly flammable material that was used for movie film before the 1950s.

Only problem is, the stuff she was thinking of is cellulose nitrate -- which she's apparently confusing with silver halide, the chemical compound in film emulsion that turns dark when exposed to light.

At one time, silver nitrate eyedrops were put in the eyes of newborn infants to prevent neonatal conjunctivitis. Nowadays modern antibiotics are used.

For all I know, Silver Nitrate may be a great book -- but the author needs a remedial course in chemistry!

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's a few humorous thoughts which came to me recently.
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Do masochists make good dental patients? After all, enduring pain is what they love!

Conversely, do sadists make good dentist? After all, inflicted pain is a necessary part of their profession!

And finally, here's a novel idea I came up with!

What's the best way to find a needle in a haystack?

Simple! Just burn down the haystack! That way the silver needle will end up sitting on top of the chard black ashes, clearly visible for all to see!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[scotpens]

A couple of weeks ago, I had lunch with my 94-year-old dad and his wife (his third) at a local delicatessen. I arrived a few minutes early and didn't see them there, so I asked the hostess if she had seen an elderly gentleman with a cane. That's when I realized I was describing half the customers in the place. I might as well have asked her, "Did you happen to see an old Jew come in here?"

[Bud Brewster]

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Scot, please tell us how this drama played out!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

No drama, really. My dad and Ingrid showed up a few minutes later and we all had a nice lunch together.

BTW, Ingrid is a very talented commercial artist. Here's a link to her website:

https://ingridhaenke.com/

[Pow]

Ingrid's artwork is stunning! This is one impressive talent, Scot. Thanks for sharing.

[Bud Brewster]

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Have you ever wondered why the furniture in Western saloons seems to break apart so easily during those Hollywood bar fights? I thought I knew, but actual answer surprised me.

Most of the furniture that was carried out West on wagon trains in the 1800s was designed to be easily disassembled and loaded into the wagons to save space. Then it was reassembled once the wagon train's reached there destinations.

For that reason, whenever there was a brawl in those frontier barrooms, the battling buckaroos would collide with the tables and chair, causing them to come apart again with surprising ease, resulting in fewer injuries! This is not just what happns in the movies!

The owners of those old saloons could quickly reassemble the furniture after the fight! :





In Western movies we see the same thing. The saloons are put back in order by the very next scene. Hollywood stole the basic idea, of course. and created "break-away" furniture, except that use less sturdy materials for the obvious reason.

Incidentally, the great-great-great grandson of the inventor or those easily-reassemble tables and chair was the inventor of LEGOs in 1932.

(Okay, raise your hand if believed all that bullshit I just made up. )

OUCH! Gotcha! Gee, I oughta be a writer! :
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

A scene I always got a kick out of was from the fun 1988 movie, Sunset.

James Garner plays an older Wyatt Earp (Garner played Earp in the 1967 film The Hour of the Gun), & Bruce Willis plays silent western movie star Tom Mix. Tom is taking Wyatt on a tour of a movie studio, when they both stop to watch the stuntmen perform an elaborate western saloon brawl with table crashes, chairs broken, folks flying over the bar.

After the scene is done, Wyatt says to Tom: "I never saw a saloon fight like that in my life."

[scotpens]

I first read Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at the age of 7. In the more than 60 years since, I never really noticed one peculiar thing about the Mock Turtle -- he has the head, hind feet and tail of a calf!



The meat in mock turtle soup actually comes from a calf's head (making it technically veal, I suppose), and has a taste and texture very similar to that of green turtle flesh. Maybe that's why mock turtle soup is seldom made and served nowadays -- today's restaurant patrons might be a tad squeamish about eating the head of a young cow.

So it seems the artist John Tenniel was having a bit of a visual joke there.

[Bud Brewster]

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Bud's Thought for the Day!

Being the "smartest person in the room" isn't much fun if none of the other people are bright enough to give you an intelligent conversation!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)